As GW astutely pointed out, the 2014 Cubs are headhunting directly from the 2013 Astros bullpen. On the surface, that sounds terrible. In practice, the Cubs have poached the only two good members of that pen, for a collective $5 million and change. $4 million of that this year will go to Jose Veras, the "closer" of the Astros last season (one openly wonders if having 51 save opportunities all year actually makes one a "closer"). If the market rate for a win is $6 million, than we'd hope Veras provides around .7 wins above replacement in the coming year. Is that feasible?
Pedigree
Jose Enger Veras was signed by the Devil Rays as an AFA in 1998 (Veras was 18 at the time). After spending '98 and '99 in various Rookie leagues (Gulf Coast and Appalchian), Jose saw his first full-season work in Charleston of the Sally League. He struggled has a starter all the way until 2004; he then took to a reliever's role for Texas in 2005 (he was a 6-year minor league FA after the 2004 season. At 25, Veras saw his first cup of coffee with the Yankees (he closed for AAA Columbus that year); he was serviceable in 11 innings for the big club. He bounced up and down between AAA and MLB until he was finally bought by the Indians…who promptly cut him loose after the 2009 season. He would yo-yo one last season, with the Marlins, in 2010, before staying in the Majors for good. Veras spent 2011-2013 as a high-K, high-BB flamethrower, usually in the 7th or 8th but closing for Houston until a midseason trade sent him to Detroit.
Pitch Selection
Veras has 3 pitches. He leans on his 4-seam fastball, which he threw 53% of the time last year. It's slowing down, going from 96.0 in 2007 to 94.1 in 2013 (itself a loss of .3 MPH from last year). It breaks equally hard down and in on the hands of righties and has become a real weapon against righties in the past few years. Against righties, he'll also throw a curve to keep hitters off the heat. The curve averages 77.5 mph (again, down from a peak of 80.1). It's a really slurvy curve, diving well away from righties. You can just imagine Alfonso Soriano striking out to this pitch. In fact, let's call it a slurveball, because that's what it is. Against lefties only, Veras will also flash a changeup. It's actually a nifty pitch, and it works perfectly off the fastball (same horizontal break, a little more dip). It's the out pitch against lefties and it does the job.
Stuff
Veras has the arsenal to get lots of swings and misses. He has a career 23.9% strikeout percentage. That's really nifty; unfortunately, the attached 12.0% walk rate is an extreme liability. The resultant 12% outlay of K%-BB% is the league average, which makes Veras essentially a league-average pitcher. Lo and behold, his FIP- is 99. To Veras' credit, he keeps the ball in the park and strands above his fair share, which gives him a hand up. Crazily enough, Veras has a career BABIP of .266. That is extremely lucky, and honestly I don't know what to make of it. Good…job?
Summary
Jose Veras was signed to presumably battle it out with Pedro Strop for the closer's job next year. Normally, I'd say I trust that Theo won't let the payrolls make a difference, but who am I kidding. The Cubs acquired Veras to pump and dump. He yielded Danry Vazquez and David Paulino last year, a formidable return if you're high on Vazquez (and you could make a case for him). Given that Veras is 4 MM this year with a 5.5 MM option (essentially), he could potentially yield a good deal more. If the Cubs are sneakily competitive (and a Tanaka/Choo signing can make that happen), he's definitely in the mix to close games legitimately as well. All told, this isn't a move that has a lot of risk or upside, and those are the kind of moves that this FO has been keen on making for 3 years running.
EnricoPallazzo wrote:
I take great pride in my contribution to the Cubblogdomospheriverse as the discoverer of Al’s full first name (i.e., Alvin).
Luckily, as more and more of the world’s personal information gets dumped online, it gets easier and easier to find shit out.
I can now confirm that Al’s full name for real is Alvin Harold Yellon.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
@ Suburban kid:
This is a true contribution to the Public Good. Whoever your avatar is would probably be proud. Although I am disappointed that it’s not something like Bartholomew.
Also, (dying laughing): http://www.anothercubsblog.net/
fang2415Quote Reply
Also also, Jonathan Sanchez –> Cubes minor leagues
How many WS rings are in the Cubs minor league system? Or for that matter, their major league system?
fang2415Quote Reply
@ fang2415:
Alas, my avatar was once as recognizable of a pop culture persona as someone like Steve Carrell is now, you youngin’.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
I’m a fan of the signing. Your description of Jose Veras makes him sound like Carlos Marmol in his second or third best season, which is what you’d want out of a FA RP. Super awesome RPs should be allowed to happen organically from within rather than paying the big bucks for them.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
uncle dave, I was reading that the Top’s original 70s albums were remixed post-Eliminator to sound like 80s/90s productions, and that these shitty versions were all that was available for 20 years. I hope the box set you got has the original mixes?
I bought Fandango as a wee lad, and everyone back then had Tejas. I just downloaded “I Gotsta Get Paid” and am considering getting the whole album (La Futura from 2012).
Billy Gibbons is great but so are the other amigos. If you like 60s garagepunk, check Gibbons’ first band the Moving Sidewalks (“99th Floor”).
Suburban kidQuote Reply
Angel Guzman ————–> Cubs Venezuela Rookie League team (…as pitching coach)
Suburban kidQuote Reply
@ Suburban kid:
Wow, good for him. Wish he hadn’t gotten injured.
Tanaka may not be coming to the US of A this year.
Rice in limboQuote Reply
Rice in limbo wrote:
Pretty sure that gig gets paid around minimum wage per hour, but yeah, good oppo nonetheless. I remember a video interview of Angel on cubs.com around 2003/4 where he seemed like a very thoughtful kid. Not surprised to hear he’s coach material.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
Hopefully in the middle of next season, when Veras is pitching and SK’s avatar is commenting, “Missed it by that much,” it’ll be about the opponents’ bats and not about the deal in general.@ fang2415:
@ Suburban kid:
SVBQuote Reply
I can see why you’d make that comparison, especially given the wipeout nature of his slurve, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Veras has heard of a strike zone, and while at his apex the curve does generate it’s share of whiffs (12.36% last year), Marmol was routinely getting 15% or more. Veras will certainly never be as dominant as Marmol, but he’ll be much more consistent (albeit still slightly inconsistent due to the elevated walk/strikeout rate).
MylesQuote Reply
SVB wrote:
Myles wrote:
Shut me right up.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
fang2415 wrote:
(dying laughing) is that DMs social studies report?
WaLisQuote Reply
@ Suburban kid:
Sorry about that, Chief. I was really trying to give Fang a hint to the indentity of your avatar, in a thread-topic-relevant way.
(Unless I’ve misrecognized the photo.)
SVBQuote Reply
@ SVB:
Would you believe I actually knew that?
Would you believe your “missed it by that much” reference to a relief pitcher might suggest an image of the theoretical box from the knees to the letters?
Would you believe Don Adams died 8 years ago at the age of 82?
Suburban kidQuote Reply
SVB wrote:
we don’t much care for thread-topic relevance ’round these parts.
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
@ Suburban kid:
I actually expected some younger denizen of OV to wonder why your avatar didn’t look like Bob Uecher.
Don’t tell me Don Adams died 8 years ago!
SVBQuote Reply
Rumor is that Texas has begun preliminary contract negotiations with the agents of Urban Meyer, Jim Harbaugh and Jimbo Fisher. Apparently there is mutual interest with all of them, but Harbaugh is their first choice.
Like You CareQuote Reply
Suburban kid wrote:
Yeah, they came out with another box set recently that restored the original recordings. I’d not known about the shenanigans with remixing and would have been properly pissed off had I gotten that version. I’ve pretty much been playing “Ten Dollar Man” on a loop ever since.
Will check out the Moving Sidewalks, not sure I’ve heard any of their stuff. I heard a story about Billy Gibbons once, after his arena shows he apparently wanders the streets looking for bars that have live music and habitually crashes gigs. I’m not sure how I’d feel about that if I was in the band, but hey, Billy Gibbons…
uncle daveQuote Reply
@ Like You Care:
That’s surprising about Harbaugh. Does he miss CFB that much? Does he hate NFL that much?
MuckerQuote Reply
@ Mucker:
I’m not surprised Harbaugh’s agent is pursuing this at all. Harbaugh’s due for a new contract soon. As if his team’s performance with him in control weren’t enough leverage, how about adding Texas’ blank check? Harbaugh’s agent is making sure Harbaugh gets paid. Straight cash, homey.
Harbaugh is an NFL guy, but I did see a story about Harbaugh’s desire for more control over the roster. Who knows?
Like You CareQuote Reply
@ Like You Care:
Makes sense. How many years left does he have?
MuckerQuote Reply
@ Mucker:
Well I’ll be damned. He’s signed through 2015 (for some reason, I thought he signed a 3-year deal). Not that it really matters. He could bolt right now if he wanted.
But SF has been working on his extension pretty much this whole season. He was going to get a raise after this year.
Like You CareQuote Reply
@ Like You Care:
I’m definitely rooting for Urban Meyer if it’s between those three. Those poor aOSU fans (dying laughing).
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
To go from Tressell to a competent offensive coach for two years only to lose him would be awful.
There is no doubt Urban’s interested in Texas. He’d have a stranglehold on a top-3 recruiting state, better weather and top-notch facilities.
Like You CareQuote Reply
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/12/19/starlin-castro-has-3-6-million-seized-in-a-legal-dispute/
Asshole dad.
GBTSQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
As a Buckeye fan first (Sparty second) I can promise that if Urban jumps to Texas I will hold him forever in lower regard than LSU fans hold Nick Saban. But if Urban takes Gene Smith with him I might give him enough love to consider him about as good as Dan Snyder or ARod.
SVBQuote Reply
SVB wrote:
Don Adams died 8 years ago.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
From a commenter:
I was thinking the same thing.
dmick89Quote Reply
Rizzo the Rat wrote:
I told you not to tell me that.
SVBQuote Reply
@ SVB:
Hey RtR, where’ya been?
It’s about the season where you and I explain why the PED guys shouldn’t be in the HoF, right?
SVBQuote Reply
@ SVB:
My mind hasn’t been on baseball that much this offseason, and I can’t say I’m too excited about the new Cubs season or any of their transactions. I have been checking on this site periodically, though I’ve very little to say unless the conversation accidentally gets somewhere I’m interested in. Like 60’s sitcoms.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Belated HOF thought: I don’t see why anyone would pick Glavine but not Mussina. They were basically the same, though I think Moose was slightly better.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
@ Rizzo the Rat:
Yeah, I picked both in my vote at the OV HOF ballot. It was really easy to leave off Sosa, McGwire, Bonds, and Clemens with all the other good candidates this year.
SVBQuote Reply
SVB wrote:
I sold my vote to Encrico Pallazzo.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
@ Suburban kid:
how much did you sell it for? I saw they were going for a lot on ebay.
dmick89Quote Reply
@ Suburban kid:
Mind you, I will be surprised if people in 2056 will remember who Steve Carrell was
fang2415Quote Reply
Rizzo the Rat wrote:
Pretty difficult to get excited about the 2013 Astros reunion in the bullpen.
dmick89Quote Reply
New Shit
http://obstructedview.net/news-and-rumors/why-i-wouldnt-post-masahiro-tanaka.html
MylesQuote Reply